Biology and Conservation of At-Risk Butterflies

Whether conservation efforts succeed or fail often depends on whether specific details of the biology of at-risk species are overlooked or incorporated (Schultz & Crone 2008; Schultz, Russell & Wynn 2008). Yet many details of biology of at-risk species are still unknown. A thread in our research is understanding the biology of rare butterfly species (Schultz, Hammond & Wilson 2003; Wilson et al. 2003). Work in our lab includes focal work on mardon skipper (Beyer & Schultz 2010; Henry & Schultz 2013) and Fender’sblue (Thomas & Schultz 2016), as well as reviews of thestatus of at-risk butterflies in the Pacific Northwest Prairies. New work in the lab expands our work to western monarch and understanding the ecology of this widespread species which is currently in rapid decline across North America (Pelton et al. 2016; Schultz et al. 2017)

In addition, we use this natural history research in combination with behavioral and demographic work to develop “rules of thumb” to advance species recovery (Schultz 2015; Schultz & Crone 2015)